Photo – 18th Shoal Creek courtesy of USGA
This week’s US Women’s Open at Shoal Creek in Birmingham in Alabama showcases the best of women’s golf in every respect. It carries the most significant title, the richest purse and as a result the strongest field on a demanding layout made even longer by recent storm activity in the area.
I take a look at the field and discuss the Australasian challenge.
Marc Leishman has a lot to like about his chances this week
This week’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin near Columbus in Ohio has attracted a good field as players either finalise their US Open preparations or find a way to get into the field for the second major of the year.
Here I take a look at some of the chances and assess the Australians and just how they might play
Just a few days over eleven years ago Norman Von Nida passed away peacefully at his aged care home on the Gold Coast, his life celebrated soon after in Brisbane by what was a massive gathering of family, friends and industry folk.
Over the last seven or so years of Norman’s life I became close to him and four years prior to his passing put together an audio tribute to him which included his thoughts and many other key figures in his golfing life having their say on the contribution he made to their lives.
It is a piece that is timeless and hopefully highlights to those who weren’t already aware just what an impact he had on the game in Australia and on the lives of many people including my own.
Once again, the age-old debate of course ratings / rankings or their relevance is raised with the release of Australian Golf Digest’s ratings this week.
It raises a lot of debate, discussion (some of it heated), opinion and parochialism and I guess in an era where we are constantly craving for a greater acceptance of the game then such exposure can only be a good thing.
It also, no doubt, assists the respective media outlets to raise money in the form of advertising and offers good and at times controversial content.
I have however always been an advocate of a golf course being good if you yourself like it. It does not matter to me what others think – I can form my own opinion and I value my own thoughts ahead of those of the eclectic mix of panellists often put together to formulate such lists.
There is no reason why you can’t hold an opinion equally as sound as those on any panel although the benefit they have of course is that many will have had the chance to at least see and perhaps play many of the courses under consideration.
But have they? I wonder how many of the panellists on any such panel have played the golf courses being analysed and therefore is the final summary a fair and reasonable assessment of the opinions of those on the panel.
In my time in the golf industry I have seen, at times, a desperation by some golf courses who appear keen to do anything to have their course listed amongst the best in the land.
To some extent I understand that desire as they can then use the result as a marketing tool (if those marketing a facility are capable of doing so effectively that is) and turn a high listing into commercial benefit and there is nothing wrong with that.
But I get back to the point I made earlier. These lists are not gospel they are opinions and we know what people say about opinions.
If you like a golf course and you enjoy its challenges and rewards and get fun out of the experience then play it again and again and again. That will be the feedback a golf course needs to tell those involved in its management just how good it is and not a listing put together in many cases by those who have no greater right to an opinion than you the user.
Back yourself and your judgement and don’t be offended if the golf course you like has not made the ‘top 100’ or whatever criteria is relevant.
Conversely, don’t get too carried away if it does.
Any time golf courses are being discussed as much as they are during a survey release is a good thing but remember to keep the results in perspective.
Use it as a guide perhaps when considering where you might play on a golfing holiday or even in your local district but don’t believe, because it is written, it is how it is.
There is no better judge of a golf course than the individual who pays his (or her) money for the experience. They will know if they want to play it again or put it in the never to be played again basket.
That is the most accurate of surveys.
Day with his 2015 USPGA Trophy – courtesy of PGA of America
Jason Day perhaps summed it up best himself when he said his victory at today’s Wells Fargo Championship was ‘probably one of his best’.
Now, for a young man who has a USPGA Championship, a World Golf Championship and Players Championship amongst his now 12 PGA Tour titles that was quite a statement.
Clearly events such as the PGA and the Players Championships have far greater meaning in his career to date but what Day was suggesting was that amongst a series of victories where his highly recognised fighting, scrambling qualities have played a key role, this was ‘up there’.
By his own admission this was a day which could well have gone differently for the 30-year old but he found a way to dig in when early in the day he was under the pump with a series of wayward tee shots and missed greens.
Today he hit only 6 of 14 fairways and eight of 18 greens but, as is so often the case in Day’s career to date, the will to win can overcome inadequacies in a game on any particular day or week.
“I had no idea where the ball was going today especially off the tee,” Day told CBS’ Peter Kostis moments after sealing the victory.
“I missed a lot of fairways and a lot of greens but my short game stood the test which was nice.
“I mean this was probably one of my best wins I have ever had because of how hard everything was today. The biggest thing is you are playing mental games with yourself.
“You are thinking and subconsciously sitting there going ‘you are going to fail, you are going to fail’ but I kept on saying ‘forget about those thoughts and keep on pushing and try and give yourself opportunities’.
The self-talk is not something new to Day and has been a feature of his still relatively young career, often finding a way to produce stunning par saves to turn an ordinary round into something significantly better.
Day did exactly that today with birdies at the 16th and 17th holes and an impressive par save at the last, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with his near hole in one at the 17th.
Day is considered one of the strongest players in the modern game, regularly inside the top twenty in driving distance on the PGA Tour but it is the combination of his creative imagination around the greens and the skills and self-belief he possesses to realise that imagination that are perhaps his greatest assets.
I have observed Day for many years, watching him win his two Queensland Amateur Championships in 2004 and 2006, playing with him on one occasion when he was just a 16-year old when representing The Hills College during his school years and then of course from near and afar during his professional career.
His natural golfing brain and creative skills have always impressed this writer and, along with his tremendous tenacity, I believe are amongst his greatest assets.
One of the first events I saw him play as a professional was at the 2011 US Open at Congressional when he further confirmed my earlier impressions and in the nearly seven years since there has been nothing to change those thoughts.
In just his third start in a major in that event, and with nowhere near the experience he has now, Day produced some of the most stunning up and downs during the final round to finish runner-up to Rory McIlroy, albeit eight shots behind the Northern Irishman.
Day following his runner-up finish at Congressional in 2011 where his short game skills were on display
Day has a ‘never give up’ attitude and today, when he could have been forgiven for wondering just where the next tee shot might end up, he found a way to win his 12th PGA Tour title.
Day’s earnings as a PGA Tour player are now nearly US$42 million, a remarkable feat for a player still just 30 years of age. He is the highest placed player on that all-time money list of players 30 years of age or younger.
He is currently second on the 2018 FedEx Cup table, third on this year’s money list and has moved back inside the top ten in the world ranking to 7th after being at his lowest standing in more than four years (14th) prior to this week.
The announcement this week that Day and his wife Ellie are expecting their third child was further reason for celebration for the Ohio based Queenslander and is no doubt further evidence of the good place he is in in his life right now.
Ahead lie this week’s Players Championship, an event he won in 2016, major championships at Shinnecock Hills, Carnoustie and Bellrive and there would be little surprise if by year’s end Day becomes Australia’s second highest winning major champion.
I have always been of the belief that Jason day could potentially become Australia’s greatest ever male player although just how that is quantified is perhaps debatable. Major championships are one criteria and in that regard he trails only Peter Thomson, Greg Norman and David Graham but he is definitely trending in the right direction.
But for injury and illness concerns he might well be there already but given he is not far short of that accolade and still only 30 years of age suggests that he is well on his way to a very special place in the history of Australian golf.
Today was just further evidence of that.
picture – Matt Jones the last Australian to win a One Asia Tour event
Earlier this year the golfing world was surprised by the announcement, essentially in the week of the tournament, that the Solaire Philippine Open would become a One Asia Tour event and that it would be the first of several on a resurrected OneAsia Tour schedule.
Given the demise of OneAsia in recent years it was a surprise to many that the Tour had risen like a Phoenix from the Ashes after its original eleven event schedule in 2011 and 2012 had been reduced to just three by 2017.
Then, in February, came the announcement that the OneAsia Tour was back with the playing of the Philippine Open with a further four events to be scheduled for later in the year in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Philippine Open was duly played and won by local Miguel Tabuena, a former winner of the event who no doubt felt a calling to play his own national open ahead of the Asian Tour and New Zealand Tour’s New Zealand Open which was played the same week.
The OneAsia Tour had earlier included events such as the Australian Open and PGA Championships on its schedule after the PGA of Australia was one of the original driving forces behind the establishment of the rival to the Asian Tour.
An announcement today by the Official World Ranking Board however would appear to be a blow to the standing of the tour, at least at this stage.
The statement read as follows:
“The Official World Golf Ranking Technical Committee and Board have monitored OneAsia over the past two years and reviewed the status of OneAsia as an OWGR Eligible Tour at their recent meetings during April 2018.
The Board’s primary responsibility is to ensure and protect the integrity of the World Ranking and, while it appreciates that OneAsia has received investment to aid a fresh start, it also recognised that there have been significant changes to the Tour’s structure, ownership and management.
It is also noted that OneAsia has not met the standards of an OWGR Eligible Tour for over three years.
In view of this, the Board has decided that OneAsia will no longer be an OWGR Eligible Tour with immediate effect.”